The present invention relates to a semiconductor device which includes a semiconductor element having a strained silicon layer and a method of manufacturing such a semiconductor device.
Accompanied by reduction of size and an increase in speed of semiconductor devices in recent years, a substrate including a strained silicon layer has attracted attention as a substrate for forming a high-speed and low-power-consumption semiconductor device. A strained silicon layer is obtained by causing a layer of silicon (Si) and germanium (Ge) (SiGe layer) to grow on a silicon substrate, and causing a single crystal silicon layer to grow on the SiGe layer. The band structure changes in such a strained silicon layer. As a result, electron scattering is limited due to removal of degeneracy, whereby electron mobility can be increased.
A silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate including a buried oxide film in a silicon substrate has also attracted attention as a substrate for forming a high-speed and low-power-consumption semiconductor device, and has been put into practical use. In recent years, a technology of forming an SOI structure including a strained silicon layer has been proposed in order to deal with a demand for a further reduction of size and increase in speed of semiconductor devices (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 9-321307).
In the case of forming an SOI substrate including a strained silicon layer as described above, a silicon-germanium mixed crystal layer is formed on a semiconductor layer of the SOI substrate. A single crystal silicon layer is then formed on the silicon-germanium mixed crystal layer to obtain a strained silicon layer. In this method, there may be a case where a silicon-germanium layer in which a misfit dislocation or a threading dislocation occurs is formed due to a lattice matching between the semiconductor layer of the SOI substrate and the silicon-germanium mixed crystal layer. If the strained silicon layer is formed on the silicon-germanium mixed crystal layer having such a dislocation defect, the defect is introduced into the strained silicon layer, whereby an excellent field effect transistor cannot be formed. Therefore, it is necessary to form a silicon-germanium mixed crystal layer having a large thickness, whereby a considerable time is necessary for the crystal growth of the silicon-germanium mixed crystal layer.
In order to obtain effects of the SOI substrate such as reduction of the parasitic capacitance, the thickness of the SOI layer of the SOI substrate must be equal to or less than the diffusion depth of the source/drain region of the field effect transistor. However, if the strained silicon layer is formed after forming a silicon-germanium mixed crystal layer having a large thickness, the effects of the SOI substrate cannot be achieved. In the case of using a step of injecting a high concentration of oxygen ions, the strained silicon layer is damaged to a large extent.